Total yearly out of pocket medical expenses are now limited, making health care bankruptcies less likely.

Policies now provide guaranteed acceptance and renewal; young people can stay on parents’ policies to age 26.

Premiums for older persons can’t be unduly raised. Lifetime limits on most benefits are banned.

Co-pays are eliminated for recommended preventative care. Mental health is now included in essential services, consistent with other medical conditions.

Coverage for maternity and newborn care now protects more vulnerable lives.

Expanded long-term services help keep people at home instead of in institutions.

Medicare “doughnut hole” progressively closes by 2020.

The Food and Drug Administration’s approval of cheaper generic equivalents is improved. Special drug discount programs are expanded, improving access at lower cost for children’s and cancer hospitals, rural and underserved communities. Public health, prevention, and wellness programs expand.

Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program expansions improve access for working poor, disadvantaged youth and adults.

Programs, scholarships, and loans target growth in the numbers of doctors, nurses and other providers.

Cost controls include slowed growth in premiums, requiring approval by states; rebates to patients if insurance companies retain more than 20 percent of premiums for overhead; incentives for doctors and hospitals to reduce avoidable tests and hospital days; crackdowns on waste and fraud; provider payments that focus on quality instead of volume; grants to reform expensive malpractice litigation.

The ACA provides a major advance for the nation’s health. Rollout glitches should not overshadow its many benefits.